


Five Rules of Toxic Relationships

by trashcan666



Category: Harley Quinn (Cartoon 2019)
Genre: Angst, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, PTSD, Past Abuse, Physical Abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:40:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24993994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trashcan666/pseuds/trashcan666
Summary: Harley Quinn always thought The Joker loved her. But, after living with Ivy for so long, did he ever love her?
Relationships: Pamela Isley/Harleen Quinzel, Poison Ivy/Harley Quinn
Comments: 6
Kudos: 72





	1. Rule Four

_They were getting married. A blissful wedding, with a bloody twist of murder. It was her favorite theme, and her puddin’ remembered that. He remembered her favorite! He would always forget,_

_“Puddin! Could you pick red and black roses on the stairwell for the party tonight?”_

_She always remembered to only mention black and red roses for only when he asked, not for her to ask. So, when she saw the basket full of pink and blue roses, she smiled and nodded._

_RULE ONE- DON’T SPEAK UNTIL YOU ARE SPOKEN TO._

_She always would meticulously approach the Joker, only to exit the room with a purple, broken nose. RULE TWO- NEVER QUESTION JOKER’S ACTIONS._

_Haley would always brush it off, she was slapped, punched with hard bone knuckles, kicked in the shins, knife to her neck._

_RULE THREE- PUDDIN DOESN’T HAVE TIME FOR YOUR NONSENSE._

_No matter the intensity, the pain or the energy. Harley Quinn was taught never to speak of the punishment, or more punishments would appear._

_“Harley!” She distantly heard ‘Mistah J’ and she skipped joyfully to him._

_“Yes Puddin?” RULE FOUR- EMOTIONS AREN’T HIS CUP OF TEA._

_She always had to act happy. Never sad, in pain, or anxious. ALWAYS SMILE. “Help me hand these- ugly roses will you?” that was NOT a question. Harley got right to work._

_‘Remember,’ she thought ‘don’t question Mistah J’s private life!’ She struggled on the ladder, Harley saw his soul wrenching eyes on her right. She forced her eyes to have happy energy, not traumatized vibes._

_Luckily, Joker was called over for cake tasting. As he walked away from her peripheral vision, she forced herself to calm the fuck down._

_‘Don’t lash out, you worthless piece of shit.’_

_She distantly remember a trick, one that she was taught by her former friend, Dr. Pamela Isley. Or, just Ivy._

_‘What the fuck was it?’_

_No matter how hard she tried to remember she just couldn’t. ‘God I would kill to just to see your face again, Ive._

_RULE FIVE- THE JOKER IS THE ONLY PERSON TO OPEN UP TO_

* * *

Harley woke up, still too tired from last nights heist, only with a gasp and wide eyes. She sat up and tried to calm the fuck down. 

Harley just couldn’t. No matter how many times she told herself she was on solid earth, she felt like she was free falling.

She looked across the hall, Ivy’s room was right there, she knew that Ivy would not give a flying shit is she went in there.

Harley just didn’t want to be a burden to anyone. She knew that if she didn’t come back from her weird trance soon, she pass out, or throw up.  
And neither of those sound good right now.

Her lungs were out the fucking ballpark. No words in the whole ass English language could describe how desperate she was to get a just one single breath.

But of course that’s how panic attacks fucking work.

_‘Fucking shit Harley, calm down or we will have to go get Ivy.’_

She really wanted to listen to the logical side of her brain, but she couldn’t stop feeling like she was worthless.

‘ _Like Mistah J always said we were.’_

 _  
_ Harley couldn’t take this shit from the panic side of her brain anymore. She sprinted to Ivy’s room just hoping she was awake and not asleep.

The black spots were clouding her vision from hyperventilation, Harley’s stomach made a noise in protest

. Instead of knocking she accidentally fell through Ivy’s door, landing on her hands and knees. “What the fuck?” She heard from what seemed like 50 miles away.

It was a few moments until she felt a presence right next to her. “Harley, hun?” Ivy has tried to get to her, but with no avail.

“I- i’m so sorr-.” Harley tried to speak but her words were washed away by her rapid breaths. The last thing she saw before her panic caught up to her, was Ivy’s shocked face.

* * *

Harley woke up to water droplets on her face. Her eyes stayed closed but she rose up slightly.

She finally cracked open her eyes and the bathrooms light pierced her retinas. “Ah- fuck the lights!” She groaned.

They were quickly turned off though, replaced by a little night light in the corner.

“Hey honey, welcome back.” She faintly hears above her.

“Uh- hi?” She said drowsily, she still felt very ill.

“Are you okay?” Ivy said as she went right back to being concerned.

“Uh- had a mini nightmare.” replied Harley, cause she didn’t want to talk about it.

“About what?” Ivy deadpanned at her.

_‘Oh, fuck.’_

Harley really didn’t want to talk about it, just the thought of it made her stomach hurt like hell.

That’s when she suddenly dove over to the toilet and just vomited until she shook with dry sobs. 

Ivy was there the whole time, holding her hair and telling her it was gonna be okay.

After a while she stumbled off her knees and onto the tile floor. The sobs were still so dry and she felt so miserable.

“Hey, can I touch you?” Ivy asked so carefully and gently, she couldn’t say no, So Harley just collapsed in her waiting arms.

And they just sat there in silence for a few minutes. Until she spun around and started to curl into herself. The sobs finally becoming tears. Ivy appeared right behind her, wrapping her arms around Harley’s middle and slowing massaged her tense stomach muscles. Harley didn’t speak for a long while, because she didn’t want to burden Ivy with her shitty emotions. God, Harley hated sadness.

But the more Ivy slowly massaged her stomach, back, neck and eventually came to rest around her middle in a loose hug, she realized that Ivy was wants her to open up and to not feel unsafe. There were still doubts about thought, but she was one step closer.

So Harley cautiously asked if Ivy could sleep with her. “Of course hun, whatever you want.” She replied, her body exhausted.

Ivy helped Harley up off the cold tile and went over to her bed. Harley then was the safest she’s ever felt, right here in Ivy’s arms.


	2. Rule Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boom more PTSD! 😼
> 
> i’m just kidding but ptsd warning if that triggers anybody!

The _Joker was dead._

_The Injustice League is also gone._

_Leaving Gotham in complete chaos, and it was Harley Quinn’s for the taking._

|   
  
---|---  
  
|   
  
It was  marvelous.  Gotham was in flames.

‘ _Of course when this is over, Ivy is gonna go crazy with all the pollution in the air.’_

Harley always smiled at the thought. Imagining Ivy going on Kiteman-

‘ _Oh, Kiteman.’_

She always wanted to vomit at his name. 

‘ _How could Ivy ever love him like that?’_

Harley never knew why Ivy could be with him. Fuck she hates him so much she wanted to fucking tear his fucking kite to shreds until you couldn’t see any kite left. 

_ ‘ Why the fuck does she love him? She could be with someone who someone who-‘ _

“Hey Harles, you okay?” Ivy asked sincerely with her silky, smooth hand on her shoulder.

“Yeah! Just wanna get back home.” Harley lied.God, how many more times was she going to do that?

But deep down, Harley knew that Ivy could see her like a fucking window. They never

lied to each other, they always held each others hair while the other vomited away alcohol. They were so close so why was she hiding this, this feeling from her one true love-

_Oh fuck. One true love._

_Harley Quinn was in love with Poison Ivy._

Harley wanted to run, runaway and not look back. But then, Ivy looped her arm around hers, and took her ahead of everyone.

“Are you  sure  that you’re okay?” She asked again with that voice-

‘ _Shut the fuck up!’_

Harley looked for any distractions. 

“Uh- are you okay?” she started, “because I’m not the one who died then came back alive from the ground with mascara running down my face and-“ 

“Harles,  stop.” 

Harley paused. 

“Stop pushing away your emotions, we’ve talked about this before!” Ivy whispered screamed.

Harley had done this before, back when she and Ivy lived in her apartment and she had a excruciatingly terrorizing nightmare. That plagued her the rest of the weak, but Ivy was  always there. Ready to catch her and hug her, until he felt better.

Harley knew that Ivy would always be there for her, literally no matter what. She could pull the biggest heist and have so many hostages, and Ivy would still be with her.

But she could never grasp that, especially what ‘ _He_ ’  did to her. And Harley knew that Ivy hated the Joker with a hellish passion, one that could kill anyone who touched Harley.

That’s what why Harley couldn’t dump this on her, because if she did, Ivy wouldn’t be with her anymore.  _And she can’t live without her, and of Ivy left her Harley didn’t know what to do! And- and_

Harley stopped when she felt a flower smooth hand on her face, ever so gently wiping her salty tears away.

Then, she realized she was crying.

“Harles,“ Ivy started with concern that could make Harley cry more.

“I- i just wanna get home, Ive.” Harley stuttered through an exhausted voice. 

Ivy nodded and they made they’re way back at the mall. She could feel the concerned glances from the crew behind her. Harley wanted to tell them that she was fine, but she could only focus on the arm wrapped around her.

Once they trampled back into the rusty, ass mall, everyone, besides Harley and Ivy, made their way into the bar that was in the back and celebrated being in control of Gotham. 

She was considering joining them but her knees have out on the couch and Ivy sat next to her.

“So, you want to talk about what happened back there?” she deadpanned with only a little of sincerity.

Harley thought, “I mean, it’s only the adrenaline of escaping and taking over Gotham, you know?” 

Ivy had a look that Harley had never seen before. It was a frustrated look with concern and anger. It scared her that a usually calm, and sarcastic woman like Ivy, could look like  that.

“Harles, I swear to god.”

“I’m telling you it’s-“

“No-

“It’s really nothi-

“Harley.”

“I mean there are kids who are-.”

“Harley!”

“I’ve, really I’m-“

That’s when she felt arms around her that strongly felt like boa constrictors. Everything in her body and around her froze. Her heart stopped, the fan stopped and other things were just, frozen.

Harley was solid ice for a few seconds, until she sobbed. 

She felt arms go a bit higher until she was being carried. She protested, “Ive-“

“Just relax.” 

So she did, Ivy carries her into her room and she doesn’t say anything, until Ivy sat them on Harley’s bed.

“I’m going to keep asking, are you okay?” 

Harley wanted to say yes, and forget about it. But she looked into those eyes, and said one thing that was true. 

“I- it’s the suit.” she lied, again. But not exactly, because she hated this outfit. Not only because of brought back bad memories, but the style. 

Ivy got the gist and she went to go get Harley’s baggy shorts and her crop top that she slept in.

“Do you need help?” Ivy asked with a raised brow at her.

“Ivy, I’m emotionally exhausted, not a paraplegic.” she laughed slightly. 

Ivy scoffed then smirked at her as she turned around. Sure they had barely any boundaries, but she respected Harley and didn’t want to intrude on her personal boundary like that.

“I’m staying here tonight babe, and I’m not taking no for an answer.” 

Harley smiles as she puts on her clothes, “I don’t expect you to I’ve.”


End file.
